


Playing with History

by EHyde



Series: Hiryuu Castle is Full of Time Portals [3]
Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Gen, Kidfic, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 04:45:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10802016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EHyde/pseuds/EHyde
Summary: Yona travels back in time and makes friends with a boy her own age who misses his father.





	Playing with History

**Author's Note:**

> I set out to write a story about Yona meeting Hiryuu, but it turned into this instead.

“Su-won, where did you go?” Yona demanded. “I couldn’t find you and I looked for ages and ages!”

“Um—” Su-won shot a nervous glance in the direction he’d come from. “How long were you looking for me?”

“Well, I guess it was just a few minutes. But it _felt_ like a long time!” Yona insisted. “You were right in front of me and then you disappeared!”

“Did I really?” Su-won asked. “You saw me disappear?”

“I saw you turn a corner and there was only one way to go and you weren’t there! So you must’ve disappeared,” Yona reasoned.

“But it was just a few minutes?” Su-won asked. He sounded surprised. “Oh! In that case, I…I need to go check something.” He turned around and darted away again before Yona could catch him.

“Hey!” Yona called after him. “You’re not allowed to do something interesting without me!” 

When she caught up to him, he was just standing in the middle of the hallway, not doing anything interesting at all. “It was right here,” Su-won said. “But I can’t feel it. Can you?”

“Feel what?” Yona asked.

“A space that was _different,_ ” said Su-won. “It was right here! I wanted to go back!” He kept turning around slowly, taking little steps to the right and the left.

Yona took a step closer. She didn’t understand what Su-won was looking for, but she could still help him look. “Oh!” He was right! There was a place that felt different. Yona didn’t think she could describe it, either. “Su-won, it's—” Then Su-won disappeared again, and this time Yona saw it. He vanished right into thin air! “Su-won?” She stepped forward into the space where he just was, but nothing happened. It wasn’t fair! Su-won got to do exciting things outside the castle, and now he got to have mysterious adventures inside the castle, too!

“I won’t wait for you!” she called. “Serves you right for having an adventure without me!” She turned around to leave, and blinked. This wasn't—the castle was _different_. She wasn’t even inside anymore, she was standing on a stone walkway underneath a balcony, next to a garden. Where—?

“I’m the one who disappeared!” Yona realized. She ran out into the garden to look up at the castle. It wasn’t even the same building! It was a lot smaller and a lot more plain, and it didn’t even have a red roof. She’d found a way to get to a different world.

“Hey! Who are you?”

A boy stepped out from behind a tree. He had dark hair like Hak, but it was long and straight like Su-won’s. And he didn’t look as old as either of them. He was holding onto a big stick. “I’m Yona,” Yona said. “I’m visiting. Was Su-won just here?”

“No…” said the boy. “Who’s that?”

“He’s my friend, he’s older’n us and he has blond hair. What’s your name?” Yona asked. “I told you mine.”

“I’m Yak-shi,” the boy said. He narrowed his eyes at Yona. “You have red hair,” he said.

“Yeah…” That was always the first thing people said. It was so annoying! “My mother had pretty black hair like yours. I wish my hair was like hers. Red hair is too weird!”

“My father had red hair,” said Yak-shi.

“Really?” Yona asked. “I never ever met anyone else with hair like mine. Can I meet him?”

Yak-shi shook his head. “He’s not alive anymore,” he said.

“Oh…my mother died, too.” Yak-shi looked sad just thinking about that. Yona understood. She still felt sad about her mother, too. “Um, sorry if I reminded you of him,” she added. Then she had an idea. “When Mother died, Su-won pretended to be my mother and took care of me. Maybe…maybe I could be your dad for a while?”

“Uh…I guess?”

“When Su-won was being my mother, he held my hand while we slept. What’s something your father would do?”

“He’d teach me how to use a sword,” said Yak-shi, holding up his stick. “I’m the prince, so I should learn how to fight, but Uncle Zeno says I don’t need to.”

“Oh…” Yona didn’t know how to fight, either. Her father said she wasn’t allowed to touch a weapon. But she’d watched Hak and Su-won practice plenty of times. She had a general idea of how to use a sword. She could do this. Yona reached down and picked up another stick off the ground underneath the tree. “Right,” she said. “On guard!”

Yona tried to remember how she’d seen Hak and Su-won spar, but pretty soon, she forgot about that. It took too much work just to think about what she was doing right now. She made sure to say “good job” or “nice work” whenever Yak-shi landed a hit, like a father probably would say, but it wasn’t like she was letting him hit her on purpose.

Yak-shi didn’t laugh or even talk as much as Hak or Su-won, so at first, Yona thought he wasn’t having any fun. But he was smiling, and when she asked if he wanted to stop, he shook his head. Pretty soon Yona forgot she was supposed to be training him, and then they both forgot they were supposed to be dueling at all. There were trees to climb and branches to swing from, and Yona wondered if Yak-shi had any other friends he ever did this with, the way that she had Hak and Su-won. She guessed maybe not.

“I don’t think you’re any better at dueling than I am,” said Yak-shi as they crashed to the ground together, finally worn out after spending the whole afternoon running around the garden. Yona’s dress was covered in dirt and torn in a few places, but Yak-shi’s clothes were dirty, too, so that was alright.

“Probably not,” said Yona. “I’m the princess, so I’m not supposed to fight. But it was fun!”

“Right!” agreed Yak-shi. “It was a lot of fun!”

“Maybe it’s better if we’re friends than if I pretend to be your father.”

“Maybe,” Yak-shi agreed. “But it was nice. For a little bit, I pretended, too.” Yona smiled. She was glad she’d been able to cheer up her new friend.

“Your Highness! Your Highness Yak-shi!” a voice called from beyond the garden.

“Oh! I’m supposed to be at lessons! We have to hide!” Yak-shi scrambled under a bush, and Yona crawled after him.

“I wonder where the prince is hiding!” came a sing-song voice, that, Yona thought, belonged to someone who knew exactly where to find the person he was looking for. Sure enough, a pair of feet appeared in front of their bush. “Wherever could he be?”

Yak-shi pushed his head out. “I’m right here, Uncle Zeno!” he said, laughing as he stood up. Hesitantly, Yona peered up at the newcomer. He was a young man with bright yellow hair, and he looked an awful lot like the nice man Yona had met once working in the palace kitchens, but he couldn’t be the same person, because he wore a gold medallion that was even fancier than Father’s. It seemed like Yak-shi didn’t really mind being found, so Yona crawled out from under the bush, too.

The big smile fell off the man’s face. “You,” he said, looking at Yona like he was really surprised to see her. “Who—how—?”

Yona was about to introduce herself when both Yak-shi and the yellow-haired man—and the whole garden—disappeared. She was in the library, and everything looked familiar again. And now she understood why Su-won tried so hard to find that place again. She hadn’t even said goodbye! Her new friend was probably so confused.

Yona stepped out into the hallway, and Su-won was waiting for her. “You’re back!” he said. “Did you meet him, too?”

“Meet who?”

“King Hiryuu.”

“No…” Wait. Was _that_ who Yak-shi’s father was? But if Su-won met him, then they didn’t go to the same place after all. “But I made a new friend! And I had an adventure and I didn’t even have to sneak out of the castle! Was I only gone a few minutes, too?” Su-won nodded. “We can go back, right? We can find the place again?”

Su-won took her hand. “We won’t know until we try!”


End file.
